Books Editor. An admirer of songs and reader of books. Simon has a PhD in English and Comparative Literature. All errant apostrophes are his own.
The Epic is the brainchild of performance poets and storytellers Finn O’Branagáin and Scott Sandwich. It is a gathering of myths, stories and legends from across the globe brought together and woven into an evening of exaggeration, hyperbole and humour. It’s not a play; both Finn and “Scott” are quick to point out from the…
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Ahead of the tragically limited run of The Epic at The Blue Room Theatre we caught up with writer, storyteller and performer Finn O’Branagáin to find out more about the show, what audiences can expect; and just how important storytelling is! Click through for the full interview. How did the idea for the “The Epic”…
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Photo Credit: Jon Green The Song Was Wrong is the third production in Perth Theatre Company’s 2015 season and sees Artistic Director Melissa Cantwell take on both writing and directorial duties. The Song Was Wrong, the story of a love-struck Australian musician Christian and his French muse Cecile, is an utterly beautifully pensive and poetic…
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Under this Sun is the debut work from Perth’s latest budding theatre company, The Emergence Co. Directed by Warwick Doddrell, Under This Sun follows the escapades of three young twenty somethings as they, each for their own reasons (some more misguided than others), make their way into the unforgiving landscape of the Australian outback. I…
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Ahead of its Opening Night we caught up with Warwick Doddrell, director and producer of Under This Sun to discover a little bit more about what audiences can expect from the play, the initial inspiration behind the work and just what directing for the first time is like! Under This Sun is the first production…
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Last week, the tour celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the legendary Count Basie Orchestra reached Perth and the Perth Concert Hall. Now under the leadership of Scotty Barnhart, the 18-piece orchestra played two, hour-long sets to an appreciative and attentive audience of young and old. Now I wouldn’t consider myself a connoisseur of jazz music,…
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Once We Were Kings is the latest work from Perth theatre company Third Culture Kids. Written by Dure Khan and directed by Mustafa Al Mahdi, Once We Were Kings explores what it means to be young, “queer” and Muslim and navigating the cultural minefield of contemporary Australia. Even after a couple of days, I’m still…
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Once upon a time, American popular music was dominated by big bands, criss-crossing their way across the country doing battle in music halls; vying for the love of baying audiences wanting to dance. Larger than life characters, with aristocratic monikers like Duke and Count headed up these bands, and helped define and soundtrack the era….
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The sheer amount of good music and great new bands coming out of Scotland right now is ridiculous. In recent years bands like Honeyblood, Chvrches and Young Fathers have made their presence heard not just in Scotland and the UK, but around the world too. Now Glasgow’s purveyors of electro indie pop Kill The Waves…
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The Confidence Man is the most recent production in Perth Theatre Company’s current season. It also happens to be a theatre piece unlike any other I have seen, a remarkable technological incursion into the traditional world of theatre. Armed with a mobile and some headphones, the audience are let loose into the world of Pete,…
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Armour, presented by 610 Productions, is the latest work from writer and director Tom Jeffcote and the second production in the current season at The Blue Room Theatre. The premise was a promising one; four men go into the wilderness and talk about their feelings. Unfortunately, Armour failed to live up to this early promise,…
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Written by Chris Issacs, Old Love is the latest play from Perth’s theatrical super-group The Last Great Hunt. Fans of the emerging collectives work so far will not be disappointed; Old Love is full of humour, wit and captivating characters, from the sophisticated and sultry older woman Florence (Nicola Bartlett) to the younger vitriolic foot-in-mouth…
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Ahead of his appearance at the Melbourne branch of The School of Life to give a talk on the history and philosophy of disco we caught up with ARIA award winning author, broadcaster and radio producer Craig Schuftan to get a crash course on all things Disco; and to find out why the much mocked…
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From the Rubble is the first work in the latest theatrical season for Perth Theatre Company. Based on the work of West Australian journalist Sophie McNeill, From The Rubble, is an unflinching and timely examination of the impact of war, conflict and extremism on innocent lives, both young and old. From The Rubble, as I…
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Following the release of their debut album No Hard Feelings back in October, we caught up with frontman Nick Corbin from New Street Adventure, a new wave soul band from London, to find out a bit more about the band, their debut album, and their new single “Be Somebody”. How did New Street Adventure come…
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Ahead of her Australian tour next year, with visits to Golden Plains Festival, Womadelaide and the Perth International Arts Festival, we caught up with American singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten to find out a bit more about her most recent album Are We There, her approach to songwriting, and her thoughts on touring Australia, and the…
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Saturday night the inaugural MoveMe Improvisation Festival officially kicked off in front of an attentive and appreciative audience with a double bill of Beast #3 and No-One Will Tell Us at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). The first of the evenings performances was the world premiere of Beast #3 the latest work from…
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Over the course of his burgeoning career, Finegan Krukemeyer, still only 33, has been commissioned and written 70 works, across 5 continents and multiple languages. With many of those works designed to be watched and enjoyed by children. His latest production (this time for adults), the wonderfully and loquaciously titled Those Who Fall in Love…
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Thursday night saw the legendary singer-songwriter Rodriguez play the first of three sold-out shows in Perth’s picturesque Kings Park, and his first show in Perth since 1981. Joining Rodriguez on the bill was a host of Australian talent, including Archie Roach, Little May and Perth’s own Fox Cat Rabbit. Local band Fox Cat Rabbit kicked…
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Last week four of Australia’s best female singers, performers and songwriters, Katie Noonan, Melody Pool, Sam Buckingham and Angie Hart, helped close this years ARTBAR season with their show, Songs That Made Me, a celebration of the songs that helped to inspire them as musicians and people. Songs That Made Me, the live show, is…
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With almost twenty years since their last Perth show, and 7 months since the postponement of their Australian tour in the wake of the sudden death of L’Wren Scott, The Rolling Stones showed on Wednesday night that not only do good things come to those who wait, and that they were more than worth the…
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Acclaimed Berlin ambient duo A Winged Victory for the Sullen are currently preparing for their first tour of Australia, which includes an intimate show in Sydney’s The Basement and a performance as part of Melbourne Music Week. We caught up with Dustin, one half of the duo, to talk about their latest album, their origins,…
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Overexposed the latest work from director-performer Danielle Micich and writer Suzie Miller is a timely piece and a thought-provoking one. With our everyday lives apparently threatened by the possibility of attacks both domestic and international, security and surveillance have become media buzzwords in recent weeks and months. It was quite fitting then, that on entering…
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Whilst academy award winning songwriter Ryan Bingham was in Australia for his first headline tour, we caught up with him to chat about the tour, Tomorrowland, his unreleased new album and writing songs for TV and Film. I think it’s 4 there and not too far off show time, how do you normally prepare for…
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Comedian Rhys Darby kicked off the Australian tour of his new show Rhys Darby Live! on Monday night with the first of two sold-out shows at Perth’s Astor Theatre. Whilst Darby is perhaps best known as the lovably inept band manager Murray Hewitt from Flight of the Conchords, he has had a long and successful…
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At the age of Eighteen, musician and producer Chase Coy signed to a major label, released a debut album, toured the United States and recorded a duet with Colbie Caillat. However after only six months, in a perfect example of the fickleness of the music industry, Coy was dropped by his label. Cut to nearly…
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Rock N Roll is full of myths, legends and tall tales. In 2012 with the release of the award winning documentary Searching for Sugarman, the extraordinary story of Detroit musician Rodriguez was revealed to the world. Since the release of the documentary and the re-release of his albums Cold Fact and Coming from Reality, Rodriguez…
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Following the news that he’ll be returning to our shores next year for Bluesfest, we had a chat with Frank Turner about touring Australia, Tape Deck Heart, and his upcoming new record. You’re in the midst of a UK tour at the moment, how is that going? It’s going great thanks, yeah. It’s funny, obviously…
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Thursday night saw Adelaide’s The Yearlings play their first West Australia show in around six years (according to singer/guitarist Chris Parkinson), taking to the recently refurbished Clancy’s Fish Pub stage to launch their latest record All the Wandering with a wonderfully intimate performance. Kick starting proceedings was Sara Tindley a singer-songwriter from NSW, and friend…
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New Orleans band Tuba Skinny are currently in Australia, hitting the road in support of their latest record Owl Call Blues. Our very own Simon Clark had a brief chat with the talented group to discuss the album, the tour and life in New Orleans. What was the inspiration behind new album Owl Call Blues?…
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